Quincy’s police chief and city clerk planned to meet today with representatives of the Ocean Club, a Marina Bay nightclub, to ask them to cancel two upcoming shows. The meeting comes a day after police Chief Paul Keenan said undercover officers made nine arrests there this summer, and that 12 club patrons were sent to the hospital with overdoses of the ecstasy drug known as “Molly.”

Lane Lambert

Quincy’s police chief and city clerk planned to meet today with representatives of the Ocean Club, a Marina Bay nightclub, to ask them to cancel two upcoming shows.

The meeting comes a day after police Chief Paul Keenan said undercover officers made nine arrests there this summer, and that 12 club patrons were sent to the hospital with overdoses of the ecstasy drug known as “Molly.”

Keenan said those numbers are “off the charts” for Quincy.

“It’s a public health hazard,” he said.

Molly is the street name for MDMA, also known as ecstasy. It was first a popular club drug in the 1980s. A pure, much more potent version of MDMA surfaced in recent months.

Molly is usually sold in pill form, typically for $20 each. Keenan said the overdoses in Quincy and elsewhere are because the pills now in circulation are more powerful, not because they’re from contaminated batches.

Mayor Thomas Koch said he wants to see the club permanently closed.

“I hope this facility goes away,” he said.

City Clerk Joe Shea, chairman of the city’s license board, said he and Keenan will ask the Ocean Club manager and a manager from Marina Bay’s owner, Flagship Marinas, to cancel two events – a Sept. 13 private party and a widely advertised Sept. 20 show by techno-music DJ Afrojack.

The Ocean Club can hold 1,600 patrons and draws customers from the greater Boston area and surrounding states. It’s closed for the summer season but scheduled the two September shows as special events.

Shea said the club and Flagship Marinas are “cooperating” thus far, so it may not be necessary to call them before the city license board.

Today’s informal session comes a day after a Boston club, House of Blues, was before the Boston license board to talk about three Molly overdose cases there last week. New Hampshire college student Brittany Flannigan died from her overdose.

The Ocean Club’s days may be numbered even if the city does not try to shut it down.

Flagship Marinas wants to build luxury apartments and more retail shops on the Ocean Club site next year. If the work is underway by April 2014 – when the Ocean Club’s lease automatically renews – “the club won’t be there, and I’m happy about that,” Koch said.

Flagship Marinas is based in Flowery Branch, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. The company owns Marina Bay and six other luxury marina developments.

Gregg Kenney, president of Flagship Marinas, said in a statement issued Wednesday that the company learned of the drug incidents only Tuesday, and immediately agreed to meet with city officials.

“Flagship is committed to fully cooperating with the City and our tenant The Ocean Club to implement solutions that ensure safe and responsible operations, recognizing the growing surge of ‘nightclub narcotics’ currently gripping cities and college campuses across the country,” Kenney said in the statement.

Keenan said the 12 ambulance calls to the club were between May 26 and Aug. 31, with most of the overdoses occurring since mid-July. None were fatal. Only one overdose involved someone from the South Shore, a Quincy resident.

Of those charged with dealing Molly, only one, William Naumenko, 23, of Hull, is from the South Shore. He was charged twice, on Aug. 25 and Aug. 30, for possession with intent to distribute.

Eight others have been charged with possession of Molly or cocaine, or possession with intent to distribute. They’re from Dorchester, Chelmsford, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Quincy Police Capt. John Dougan said three others will be summonsed on similar charges.

Keenan said Molly hadn’t been a problem in the city until the last few months. He said the Ocean Club overdose reports tapered off in June, then spiked again in mid-July.

Soon after that, Keenan met with Koch, and Lt. Patrick Glynn and other detectives began undercover surveillance and “buy-bust” purchases and arrests inside the club and in the parking lot.

“We wanted to get out in front of this,” Keenan said.

Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @LLambert_Ledger.

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